Fascinating food in New York and occasionally farther afield

Salty Stew

"Livestock lungs shall not be saved for use as human food," the U.S.D.A. ruled in 1971. Ever since, U.S.-made haggis hasn't been the same. How then could this snack shop advertise lungs so unabashedly?

It's only a colloquialism, one of the shopkeepers explained. Although a well-accepted translation of the Chinese characters is indeed "man-and-wife lung slices," even in China fūqī fèipiàn rarely includes lungs. Instead, this dish gives the spicy-and-tingly Sichuan treatment to whatever mixture of offal is readily (and legally) available.

Shown in the beef section of the display case, counterclockwise from the front: leaf tripe, honeycomb tripe, tendon, and a spicy melange of the three. Pick and choose as you please: They're all the same price per pound.